


Across the stars

by Enya9102001



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Fix-It
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-29
Updated: 2020-03-03
Packaged: 2021-02-24 15:34:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22020256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Enya9102001/pseuds/Enya9102001
Summary: ‘I’ll come back for you sweetheart, I promise’‘Ben, where are you?’
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey & Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Reylo
Comments: 7
Kudos: 35





	1. Chapter 1

_1 year ago_

_At first she felt cold. Then she felt a warm hand on her stomach. Somebody was clutching her to his body. She felt his force-signature and immediately recognized it. She felt her life coming back to her. A strange energy spreading through her body from that warm hand. She opened her eyes and saw his face. She sat op straight. ‘Ben’, she said. It felt truly wonderful to call him that. Because when she’d looked him in the eyes before, she knew that Kylo Ren was no more. Ben Solo had returned. He had come to Exegol to save her. And save her he had. They saved each other. Now all she could do was look him in the eyes and hold his face in her hands. He smiled. And she kissed him. He kissed her back and held onto her for dear life. Clutching her closer to him. When they drew back, she looked him in the eyes again. Dark-brown eyes, half-covered with his raven-black hair. He smiled at her. A wide toothy grin that made her heart flutter. But then, to her horror, the light in his eyes disappeared and he collapsed to the ground. No. No! This could not be happening! She laid her head on his chest and wept. ‘come back to me’, she whispered._

Rey had lived on Tatooine for a while, now. She still went to the resistance base, occasionally, to check up on her friends. She also helped them out from time to time. She had gone on several mission with Finn, Poe and Rose. They’d won the war. However there was still a lot to do. The resistance was trying hard to restore the Republic and to bring peace to the galaxy. They all had a part to play, and Rey did hers.

She had come to Tatooine in the first place to bury the lightsabers of Luke and Leia. To give them some closure. She hesitated with burying Luke’s saber. Maybe Ben would need it. After some consideration she decided that Ben wouldn’t need Luke’s lightsaber. He could construct his own new lightsabre and start a new era with it. With her. They would honour their legacy, but their fate wouldn’t be decided by it. Like it never was.

Ben was not dead. He wasn’t gone. Not entirely, at least. She couldn’t quite explain it. But she felt it. She felt a faint flickering on the other side of the bond. The bond that she shared with him. After Ben had faded the bond had felt like an open wound tearing Rey apart. A wound that would never heal. But after some time she started to feel more than just pain and forlorn emptiness. She sensed Ben on the other side of it. He was alive.

She would bring him back. This was the other reason that Rey had come to Tatooine. Here she could work on her own mission, without being disturbed. She had brought the sacred Jedi text with her. To study them for clues. Ben was somewhere. Somewhere between life and death. After some reading she had found out about a realm called the _World Between World_ s. It was bound to both Exegol and Ahch-to. Rey didn’t feel much for going back to Exegol, but if it was the only way to get Ben back….

She decided she would try Ahch-to first.


	2. To Ahch-To

**To Ahch-To**

_‘I’ll come back for you sweetheart, I promise’_

_‘Ben, where are you?’_

Rey awoke in cold sweat. Even though the war was over, the nightmares wouldn’t stop. It was just like it was before, when she was alone on Jakku. She couldn’t escape the feeling of loneliness even at times when she was surrounded by her friends. This aggravated her a great deal. She felt guilty for feeling that way. 

Rey stared up at the ceiling. Beside the nightmares her emotions wouldn't stop haunting her either. She'd felt disbalanced ever since Ben had faded away on Exegol. it was getting worse. She needed to focus. She needed to stay strong and ignore the pull of the Darkside. It was difficult however, dealing with this much pain and longing. Rey got up from bed. She wouldn’t find any more sleep tonight. She went outside looking at the stars. ‘I’ll find you Ben. I promise’

A few hours later she saw the Millenium Falcon come from the sky and land nearby. She had agreed with Chewie that he could come with her. Rey didn’t want it at first. It was too dangerous. But the Wookie had been too stubborn and in the end Rey had given in. She admitted that she could use his help and liked the company. The Wookie had come several times to her on Tatooine. To check up on her. He was a good friend.

Rey hadn’t told anybody about her mission. Nobody had known what she was up to. The Wookie found out after he had walked in on her a few months ago. While Rey was mapping out her route to Ahch-To. At first the Wookie was afraid that she was going into exile like Luke had. He had thrown several tantrums at this. After Rey was able to calm him down and assure him that she wasn’t going to exclude herself from her friends, the Wookie had wanted to know the reason she was really going to Ahch-To. Rey hadn’t wanted to tell him, but the Wookie was one of her best friends, she couldn’t lie to him. Rey went to the Falcon. It looked as weathered and battered as ever. But Rey had learned by now that you should never judge a ship by it’s appearance. Chewie came outside. And hugged her. ‘Hey Chewie. I’m glad to see you. Just let me ask you one more time. Are you sure you’re up for this. It’s going to be dangerous.’ The Wookie told her that that’s exactly the reason why he was coming with her. Rey sighed, but she couldn’t deny the warm feeling that was welling up inside her. She would never fully get used to people, like her friends, actually looking out for her. ‘Thank you, Chewie.’

Rey had her packed bags lying around for a few weeks now. She was ready. Eager to take the journey. She took her bags and entered the ship. Looking back at the farm one more time. She went to sit in the cockpit and started the ship. When they were in hyperspace on the course to Ahch-To the Wookie asked her to explain to him anew why they had to go to Ahch-To. He knew it was to get Ben back, she had told him that before. Chewie hadn’t trusted Ben in a long time. The Wookie trusted Rey however. So Just like two years ago when he had helped her get to Ben on Snoke’s ship, he was helping her now. Rey had told him that Ben had come back to the light, after they had fought on the remnants of the Death-star and she’d healed him. She had told him that he had even brought her back to life, giving up his own life in return, on Exegol. She knew that Chewie had loved Ben once, as a nephew. She hoped they could forgive each other. Someday.

‘Well’, she started. ‘Ben’s is not completely death. You know the force, right. They’re two aspects of it. You have to so called Cosmic Force and the Living Force. Once you die your energy, your life-force, is given back to the cosmic force. Ben gave his life-force to me. And because of that his life-force can’t go back to the cosmic force. This means that Ben can’t become one with the force.’ _‘That’s why Ben wasn’t able to manifest as a force-ghost, like Luke and Leia had’_ , Rey thought to herself. ‘He’s trapped somewhere between life and death. I can feel he’s still around.’ In the past year I have healed and gotten stronger again. Now, I can give his lifeforce back to him. He can come back.’

Rey left out a tiny bit of information. Ben and her had shared one lifeforce. One soul as one could say. They were bound together in the Force. This meant that one could not exist without the other. Ben had to come back or to her, because being apart wouldn’t do either of them any good. Because of their bond they had the potential to bring balance to the Force, like they balanced each other. Be that as it may, they could only hope to achieve this while actually being together, side by side.

‘I figured out by reading the Jedi texts that Ben’s probably in a strange place called the World Between Worlds,’ Rey continued. ‘This place is tied to several places in the universe. One of them is Ahch-To. So we have to go there. To enter this strange realm.’

After this explanation the Wookie kept quiet for a few minutes. Looking very puzzled out the front-window. Then he looked at her and asked if she really believed this to be true. Rey could Understand Chewie’s dubiety. It did sound like some made-up story. Rey didn’t quite understand it herself. Even though Chewie had seen enough weird stuff in his days, Rey imagined this pushed its boundaries. But it was true, nonetheless. Or so Rey believed.

So she answered: ‘Yes Chewie, I believe it to be true. I know it sounds strange, but…’ He nodded, understanding her.

They had a long journey up ahead. Regardless of the evidence Rey had found, that supported her theory, she started feeling anxious. She hoped she could enter the realm, she worried about that. She worried even more about actually finding Ben. She didn’t know the extent of the realm. Rey had read notes that described how she could enter it. But she had no information on how one could find someone once they have set food in the World Between Worlds. All Rey had to guide her was a faint flickering on the other side of the bond.

Rey would have to thrust the force and her feelings and let herself by guided by them. 

Even though in the state she was in, thrusting herself and the force seemed like the hardest thing she'd ever have to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so apparently, you're supposed to spell Ahch-To like this and not like: Ach-to. sorry for this and all the other cringey grammar and spelling mistakes i've made.
> 
> hope you enjoyed this.
> 
> also: now Rey has a yellow lightsaber, I'm thinking of giving Ben a purple one. I know it's a bit of a cliche choice. but i think the colors suit them both and suit the Grey-jedi theme I'm going for.


	3. Takodana

**Takodana**

_When Chewie and Rey had landed on Ahch-To, Rey had been instantly drawn to the dark cave beneath the island. Just like before. Not bothering to inform the island natives about what she came to do here, she went to it, right away. Chewie stayed with the falcon._

_Rey climbed down the green rocky mountains of the island. The lower she went the more ice cold salty seawater was sprayed in her face. After a long climb down the side of the island she arrived at the dark and dirty wed hole in the ground. Even though there was nobody there she heard strange chanting and eerie whispers coming from it. She knew it was just the dark side trying to scare her and lure her in at the same time. She was careful not to fall down in the water this time. She climbed down, securing herself with a robe. When she had made it to the end of it she swung herself to the edge of the water and landed on the solid rock shore. Following the tugging of the bond. It brought her to the mirror. She walked closer again enticed by the strange object. The flickering on the other side of the bond grew stronger now._ _She wondered if the mirror could somehow be a portal to the world she’d been looking for. She stood in front of the mirror. And touched it. Speculating if she’d be able to go through it._

_At first she saw her own reflection, but it began to change. She could look through the mirror now. She saw shadows and then a vague silhouette. The cave became completely quiet. She could hear the hammering of her own heartbeat. She recognized that silhouette in an instant. ‘Ben!’ he was standing with his back to her. She wanted to reach out to him. But when she did her hands only collided with the cold surface of the glass wall. ‘Ben!’, she shouted again. Hoping that the shadowy figure would turn and walk to her, so that he could come with her. She shouted again getting alarmed. She wasn’t able to keep the high-pitched fearful tone from her shouts. He looked up at that. And looked behind him. She couldn’t make out the characteristics of his face. Not seeing his eyes or his mouth, just a vague shadow where his face should be. Then he looked forward again and started walking. Away from her. The shadow became smaller and smaller. Disappearing in the distance._

_I_ _t was like losing him all over again. The sadness was overwhelming. The anger that Rey felt next was blinding her vision. It overwhelmed everything else. Rey slammed her fists on the mirror. Shouting his name. After bashing the mirror again and again small cracks appeared in the mirror. The cracks became larger and larger until the mirror shattered to pieces. Rey’s knuckles were bruised and splattered with blood. Rey felt pain that spread through her hands distantly. She was numb to it. Rey slumped down against the cold stone wall and held her knees to her chest. Burying her face in her hands. ‘Ben…’, she whimpered, softly._

Rey found herself back in the pilot seat. Staring out of the front window. They were in hyper space now. Course set to Takodana. She needed to speak with Maz. She had walked back to the falcon. Alone. It felt like hours had passed when she was in that cave on Ahch-To. Crumbling to pieces. Rey always knew there was a chance that it wouldn’t work. But the disappointment hit her hard anyway. Only after a long time, she didn’t know how long exactly, did she find the strength to force-heal her bruised knuckles and climb out of the cave. Her plan had failed. She had failed.

Chewie had asked her what happened. Rey’d told him it didn’t work. She didn’t fill him in on the details. Covering up her hands. She’d had muttered that they’d needed to go to Maz. Chewie had nodded and started up the engines of the falcon.

Absentmindedly looking at the controls in the ship Rey felt so lost. Almost consumed by the turmoil of emotions inside her. After she had seen the vision in the mirror she’d felt like tearing the whole cave down. Bringing the whole island down with it. She had been struggling to keep her emotions in check ever since the events on Exegol. She felt onbalanced. It was only getting worse with time. Rey was losing herself. And she didn’t know what to do. Turning to the dark side wasn’t an option. She couldn’t do that to her friends. Whenever one would fall to the Darkside, destruction would follow. She wouldn’t get Ben back that way either. But sometimes it felt like giving in to these negative emotions was the only thing left to her. Like she couldn’t escape them. The Jedi had had laws that forbade Jedi and Padawan from forming intimate relations with other beings, Rey remembered Luke talking about it. They’d taught their students to let go of their attachments. Because being attached to something would mean you could fear losing it. And actually losing someone you deeply cared about could cause you to become angry. fear and anger are al too easy ways to the Darkside. Rey was starting to consider that maybe they were right. This nearly obsessive search for someone. The onbalance to which she slowly succumbed after she was separated from him. Would she lose herself to the Darkside?

Her head was Throbbing and she felt her eyes becoming heavier with each passing minute. Sleep. She needed sleep…

Rey is awaken by a quake of the ship. Chewie had landed the ship himself. When Rey asked him why he didn’t wake her up he answered that she looked like she needed to rest. Rey sighed, very well then. At least she was awake now.

Sleepily Rey walks out of the cockpit to open the hatch and is met by the blinding light of the sun. The beauty of Takodana never failed to amaze her. There is a huge lake shimmering with sunlight. It has trees on either side of it. Blue surrounded by all different shades of green. So different from the desert that Rey grew up in. up ahead lays their desitnation. The ancient castle of Maz Kanata. Or the Ruins of it, to be exact. It had been completely destroyed by the first order a few years ago. Just moments before she met Ben in this forrest. Some parts of the castle are already repaired. Others are being repaired at the moment. Luckily it is a sunny day, because in these parts the rain would just fall right through the roof. The castle is bustling with all kinds of activities just like it had before. Maz worked hard to restore it in its former glory, Rey knew this place meant a whole lot to her. So she was glad to see it was starting to thrive again.

She and chewie walked to the part of the castle which housed the cantina. It’s a little gloomy inside. But cosy in a way. Different smells of all kinds of food fill their noses. They spot Maz sitting on a table in the middle of the Cantina talking to some Bounty hunters. One of them makes a joke and maz throws her head back and lets out a roaring laugh. When she turns her head back to her guest her eyes fall on the newly arrived ones. She smiles at them and beckons them over. Dismissing the two bounty hunters. ‘Ah,’ she exclaimes loudly. ‘My boyfriend. So good to see you! Com’on give me a hug!’ chewie pickes her up and nearly squeezes her to dead. Maz just laughs. Rey smiles at the sight. When chewie sets her down her eyes turn to Rey. Rey works hard not to shrink back at the eyecontact. Maz is a wonderful kind creature. But her deep brown eyes, magnified by her huge set of glasses, always seem to look right through you. Seeing right what’s on your mind and what’s in your soul.

Maz walks over the Rey and takes her hand. ‘stopping by on a quest now, are we? I wonder what you’re looking for child.’ Rey wasn’t a child anymore of course, she itched to tell the old woman that. But she knows that to beings as ancient as Maz, everyone was a child. ‘Who said I was looking for anyone, maybe I just came to see you, Maz. Came for your wise advice, perhaps’, Rey answers ‘Ah don’t play games with me, girl. Now don’t let me drown in my own curiousity. Tell me what you’re up to!’

‘I, uuuhhmm, I.’ Rey anxiously looks at chewie. The wookie shrugs his shoulders. By the force, Rey thought to herself why did this woman always have to be so direct.

‘This person is very important to you’ Maz filled in herself. Rey was completely perplexed. How in the galaxy did Maz always know? Seeming to read her mind Maz answered: ‘Well child, just as I told your stormtrooper-friend before, when you have lived as long as I have you see the same eyes in different people. In yours I recognise a deep longing, you’re searching for something, or someone is more like it. It can’t be your family. You have found one already in your friends at the resistance. Who is it? Deliver me from my ignorance, child.’

‘I’m searching for someone Maz, that’s all you need to know for now.’ Maz looks at her while frowning but then decides, miraculously out of character, not to push any further. ‘I went to search for him on Ahch-To but it didn’t work out. I went to what I thought was a portal to a realm. I had been in that place with the portal once before. Just like then it gave me a vision. But this vision scared me even more than the first one had. It brought out a side in me. I would rather restrain it.' ‘Denying parts of yourself is never a good idea. You are what you are, you should learn to embrace yourself. This is your journey, you’ll have to face yourself on it.’ ‘But I’m scared Maz’ Rey looked at Chewie she hadn’t told him this, but he probably would find out sooner or later. It was a reason she kept a little farther away from her friends with the passing of the time. Ever since Ben had parted from her, she’d felt onbalanced. Even more so than after the events on Snoke’s supremacy when he’d offered her his hand. Whenever she’d been with Ben, even when he went by the name of Kylo Ren, she’d felt balanced somehow. But now she was alone. She was being pulled apart by both the light and dark which had an equal strong pull on her. Ben had understood this as he was going through it himself. ‘I know where I have to go next’, Rey continued. ‘But I don’t know how to make it work. How to enter the realm. And I’m scared of my reaction when it doesn’t work. He’s worth risking everything to me. But it feels wrong to risk the fate of my friends. What’ll happen to them if I fall to the darkside? I’m afraid of losing myself to it.’ Maz took a deap breath. ‘Rey you’re thinking in what-ifs. It no use to worry about something that hasn’t yet passed. There’s a reason that there is a light- and a Darkside to the force. That constant duality keeps the universe in balance. Having both inside of you may not be the curse you think it to be, maybe it’s a blessing. But falling too much to one side is a bad thing. I think you’re strong enough to keep this from happening. You may feel scared to search for something that may bring out this side in you. But being scared won’t bring you anywhere. You know this. I’ve always considered you to be brave, young one, this isn’t like you. Besides There are a lot who are facing the same struggle. In fact every person no matter how strong in the force is fighting this battle in themselves. There are some, however, who have managed the walk on the precise line in between these two sides. I know one of them and I would like for you to meet her. I think she’d like to meet you too.


	4. Peace and Purpose

_‘Where am I?’_

_Ben found himself in a strange place. His last memories were that of Rey caressing his face, calling him Ben and kissing him deeply. After that everything had went black. When he had opened his eyes again he couldn’t make out where he was. A strange light surrounded him. He was surrounded by a darkness streaked with bright white stripes and symbols._

_He stood up and walked around a little. He came across portals. Each to a different time and a different place. He couldn’t go through them even if he tried. He was trapped in here. He could however see what was on the other side of the portal._

_The first vision had creeped the shit out of him. It was a memory. He’d seen his father and mother in their younger years. Holding a little infant boy with a coup of raven black hair. Little did they know what kind of the destruction the child they loved so much would someday bring upon them, Ben thought to himself. Guilt ripped through him at that thought. That was just the first vision of many he would see. He spend his time, if time even existed out here, wandering around being confronted by visions mostly of the past and on rare occasions of the future. Sometimes his, sometimes of people totally unknown to him._

_When he’d first saw Rey appear on the other side of a portal he’d stopped dead in his tracks. She was a small girl, no older than ten. A vision of the past. She’d struggled to climb up against the side of a huge rusting battlecruiser. Scavenging for parts, so she’d have something to eat before she’d went to bed that day. Little Rey was trying hard not to fall, holding on tightly to anything sticking out of the iron wall. Then she’d placed her foot a little too far and lost her balance. She fell down from almost 5 meters high. Hurting her arm in the fall. When she’d hit the ground she got right back on her feet. She didn’t even give herself time to process the fall or cry about the pain it had caused her. She climbed right up again, not caring about the risks. She had no other choice._

_Ben got really angry. This had been Rey’s life for almost 15 years or so. All thanks to that shrivelled son of nerf-herder. Her own grandfather._

_Vision after vision, Ben slowly lost his sanity. He’d never felt so alone. He was surrounded by people of the past and future. Yet he couldn’t get in touch with them. He spent nearly every minute looking at memories of his father, mother and uncle. Of old friends from the Jedi temple. Of his uncle Lando. But they weren’t here with them he couldn’t feel them around him. Rey wasn’t here with him either. That was the worst part. From the first moment he’d met her he had been strangely pulled to her. Later he’d found out it was because they were two parts of a whole. He had been drawn to his other half, as she had to hers. Later when they’d talked through their forcebonds he’d slowly fallen in love with her personality. He found it matched his perfectly._

_Their bond was more than just a creation of the force. They’d fallen for each other, two parts of one or not. After being apart for so long. Separated by their different ideologies and different destinies, they believed they’d protect and had to fullfil. They’d finally found one another on Exegol. Standing on the same side of the war at last. Now they were apart from each other again. That knowledge was too much to bear._

_Ben didn’t sleep in this strange realm. He just underwent torture after torture by revisiting memories of the past. Facing all his wrongs. The Innocent lives he had taken. The terror he had helped spread through the galaxy. The pain he’d brought his own family and so many other families. The pain he’d brought Rey and her friends. He couldn’t forgive himself for what he’d done. How could he ever?_

_After losing himself in yet another vision he suddenly felt a strange tug on the other side of the bond._

_Rey?_

_He hadn’t felt that sensation in a long time. He’d occasionally felt some vague flickering on the other side of the bond telling him that Rey was alive, which always filled him with hope and longing at the same time._

_He felt her presence nearby._

_‘Rey?!’_

_He shouted running as fast as he could. He followed the strange pull of the forcebond. It let him to another portal. A familiar silhouette was on the other side of it. He’d recognise that form from a thousand meters away. Rey was on the other side the portal. He could only see her backside. She was looking at a wall. Slowly touching it. He couldn’t see her face but he could tell by her body language that she was distressed._

_‘BEN!’_

_Ben jumped at the scream. Rey’s fearful voice had called from behind him. He looked back but she wasn’t behind him, she was ahead. He walked closer to the portal. Closer to her. Rey had lost it. She was slamming her fist on the wall breaking the mirror and her own knuckles in the process. Was she trapped somewhere?_

_Ben panicked. This didn’t feel like a vision from the past or the future, this was happening now in the present. ‘Rey!’ he screamed. He panicked. He had to help her. But no matter how hard he tried he couldn’t reach her. He couldn’t aid her nor comfort. While Rey slumped to the ground, Ben simultaneously lost his own strength and sunk to the ground as well. After a moment he looked up at the portal, Rey had disappeared._

_He hadn’t even seen her face_.

**Devaron**

Devaron was a beautiful planet, Rey had decided the moment they’d landed there. It was a mixture of all different kinds of green. Dark green, light green, mossy green and so on. the planet even smelled green. It was full of sounds of nature, wind blowing through the trees and making the leaves rustle, chirping birds and streaming water. Rey loved it.

This place also hummed strongly with the force. Rey felt it pulse through her. The sensation was strangely familiar with the one she had felt on Ahch-To.

This might have to do with the fact that there is an old temple located somewhere nearby their landing place. After they secured the ship Chewie and Rey walked right into the jungle that lay ahead of them. Rey was tracking the temple with a device she got from Maz. However the closer she seemed to get to the temple, the more the device faltered. The strong presence of the force was messing with her technical equipment. After a while She choose to just go with her feeling instead. Her connection to the force would lead her.

She hadn’t seen any of the horned dominating species of the planet. Apparently they didn’t get too close to the Jedi temple. Rey wondered why. Before she and Chewie went to this place Maz had given them brief instructions: Go to coordinates 099, 081, 113. After arriving Rey had to thrust her feelings to pick a landing spot and after they’d landed they would have to track to temple with the device. The first two had turned out to be helpful, but the last part not so much.

‘Ugh’, Rey grunted. Beautiful as this planet was, it was also very humid and kind of hot. The walk to a temple was a long one. One with many obstacles. They had to go through a dense jungle. Sometimes she and Chewie had to climb over roots of trees that were twice the size of themselves.

Somebody here wished to meet Rey. She would be helpful to her, Maz had promised. Rey didn’t even know who it was. Maz was kind of secretive about it for whatever reason. She’d told them it was an old acquaintance of hers. Someone trained in the force with a very eventful past. This person and Maz communicated regularly. Last Maz had heard from her she was staying on this planet. Apparently doing some research and rebuilding on the temple, which had long ago been a training center for Jedi.

In one of their catching-ups Maz had dropped Rey’s name and the person had asked about her. After hearing Rey’s story from Maz, she had shown interest in the girl, and told Maz if this girl ever needed help with something she would be eager to help her.

Strange. Rey was always ready to help somebody herself, even if the person in question p was a stranger. Most people would nonetheless want something in return for their help. Rey couldn’t help but distrusting sudden kindness from people unknown to her. It was a defense mechanism she had inherited from her scavenger past.

After another set of hours of climbing and panting through the jungle they finally reached a clearing. a stone path lay before them. It let directly to the temple. Exhausted, they took their final steps to the temple and soon neared the entrance.

The temple was magnificent. The humming of the force was at its peak here. Beside the brightness of the force Rey felt something else. A feeling of darkness. It grew stronger as she and Chewie came closer to the steps that led to the temple-entrance. Rey was breathing rapidly.

She took a deep breath, trying to calm her breathing. Something bad had happened here. She could feel death and destruction right on these steps. Rey closed her eyes focusing on the force. A Jedi life had been taken at the place where they are standing. Shivering Rey walked the steps to the entrance. What a strange place to come to alone. Rey wouldn’t be able to find peace in a place stained with darkness like this.

Darkness wasn’t all she had felt when she had focused on the force however. She’d felt a flicker of both light and dark coming from the inside the temple. A life form it seemed. It had to be the person they were looking for.

Rey and Chewie climbed the last steps. The doors opened themselves. Rey looked inside. It was dark. The only source of light was the faint sunshine that came through the cracks in the ceiling. This place had to be really old and neglected.

‘Hello…?’, Rey called.

Deciding she wasn’t about to trip over some rubble laying on the floor in the darkness she ignited her lightsaber. Inside the temple there was another set of stairs. Rey decided to climb them. She didn’t know where she was going, but it was better than staying on the doorsteps, waiting for somebody to come.

On the end of the steps was a large room with a balcony. Rey walked to it. She stood on the balcony. Rey enjoyed the sight of the large green wood you could see from above. Chewie came and stood beside her. ‘It’s beautiful isn’t it?’ Chewie agreed it was. The sun was just rising when they’d landed here. Now it was already setting. The sky was pink with a streak existing of bright yellow and orange were the sun was.

‘Good evening’

Rey jumped three feet high. Chewie let out a load roar. Although she knew the person had been in the temple. She hadn’t really focused on her presence since she entered this balcony. So she hadn’t felt her entering the room.

‘Easy now, I didn’t mean to scare the both of you.’ The person led out a soft laugh. ‘I was just so caught up in my daily meditation that I didn’t notice the two of you coming in. That was until I found a strong presence in the force which made it hard for me to focus.’

Rey knew that voice. She had heard it once before. On Exegol, when alle the Jedi masters of the past had called out to her. Strange. That voice hadn’t been from the past, however. Being that the one who owned was standing right in front of her.

Rey looked at the person. She was wearing a white cloak so Rey couldn’t see the persons face. She had a staff with her. The staff made Rey like the person immediately, even though she had scared her to death coming in like that. Rey became more curious with each passing second.

‘Who are you?’, Rey finally asked. The lady uncovered her hood. She had an orange complexion covered in natural patterns of white marks. She had a magnificent crown of three tentacles of blue and white. Her face was laced with wrinkles. It was a kind face, Rey decided. Even though it looked like it had been through much.

The person smiled at them once again before introducing herself.

‘I am Ahsoka Tano. And you are Rey, are you not? Maz told me you would come. I’ve been waiting for you.’

Rey grunted. She had been meditating for two hours now. It had been five days since they’d first arrived here. Master Ahsoka had let her meditate almost every half day. They had talked about the past with that person too. Ahsoka’s story had been amazing and inspiring, kind of sad too.

Rey understood why Ahsoka had left the Jedi and became something entirely new herself. The Jedi weren’t always supreme in everything. Rey had already learned that in her lessons with Luke. Sith weren’t any better. Maybe being in between the two was something. Maybe balance was the way to go.

That’s the reason Ahsoka let her meditate. To focus on the balance. Rey tried really hard. But after the first few tries she’d had to conclude that she was everything but balanced. Every attempt at staying in the middle left Rey eventually falling too far to the light or the dark. Scarily the latter, was much more common.

Rey opened her eyes and looked at the scenery before her. She was sitting on the same balcony they’d discovered when she and Chewie first came here. It was midday so the suns were standing high above the skies which made all the different greens of the jungle come out at full brightness. It was beautiful. When she looked at it her frustration faded away a little and she felt slightly more at peace. Rey sighed. When did she become so hopeless?

Enough of this, Rey decided. She stood up. She would try again in a few hours. She just had enough of it for now. All her attempts seemed fruitless anyway.

Rey goes downstairs. She’s just in time to catch a wooden balk which had slipped out of his hands and would have hit him on the head if Rey wasn’t there in time to catch it. With nothing else to do Chewie had took it upon him to help Master Ahsoka fix the temple. Rey decides to help him. They had fixed up quite a lot. The temple looked better each day. Rey smiled. At least when she was helping Chewie she was doing something useful. It felt good to be useful.

Just when they were trying to fix the holes in the roof, Ahsoka came walking back in. she had gone to the jungle to collect some fruits. ‘Ah Rey, you’ve stopped meditating?’

‘Well, yes I… I thought it was a good idea to help Chewie with the repairs. He can use some help. There’s still a lot to be done.’ Rey tried to sound believable. But she knew she failed. Ahsoka was smarter to just believe her shallow excuses.

‘Rey, it’s very kind of you to help, but I’m sure Chewie can handle things on his own. There’s no rush to finish things either. I’ll be here for a while, even after you and your friend will be on your way. I’ll stay here to finish the temple. So you can go back to meditating now. Try to focus on the balance.’

Rey walked back to the stairs, but paused in front of the stairs. She really didn’t want to go back to meditating.

‘Or’, Ahsoka added, after seeing Rey hesitate, ‘is helping Chewie not really the reason you stopped?’

‘I’m hopeless’, Rey admitted to Ahsoka. ‘I’ve meditated for hours now. Focusing on the balance as you told me to do. But no matter how hard I try I always fall too far to one side.’

Rey felt herself tearing up. It was like all her frustrations from the past months came crashing through the surface all at once.

‘The thing is,’ Rey continued, ‘I’ve never in my life known perfect balance. Never felt that way. When I was young I was starving, I was living on hunger, anger and loneliness. When I fought with the resistance I was living on honour, friendship and determination. I only ever felt balance when… when...’

‘When what, Rey?’

Rey blinked and quickly wiped away her tears. She didn’t mean to go there. Chewie gave her a knowing look.

‘Rey?’ Ahsoka looked at her kind and understanding but also curious. She patiently awaited an answer.

Rey wasn’t sure if she could give her one, however. What was she going to say? Something like: the only time I truly was at balance it was with my enemy, who eventually became my lover. It was with another force-user just a powerful as me. That understood me in the deepest way possible, sometimes better than I understood myself. Who made me whole.

Rey imagined herself saying all that to Ahsoka. It sounded stupid The way she and Ben completely depended on each other for balance. Even though Rey knew it was the truth.

Rey looked back at Ahsoka. She was completely at a loss of words. She saw in Ahsoka’s face that she still expected an answer but that Ahoska also figured out that she wouldn’t get one so easily.

‘Walk with me Rey.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it thought i would finish this fix two months ago. help meeeeeee....

**Author's Note:**

> This text is part of a series.  
> my different drabbles are part of the same story.  
> They take place at a different time, so here's the timeline
> 
> \- Across the stars (36 ABY)  
> \- Torn apart (37 ABY)  
> \- Reunion (37 ABY)  
> \- A New Home (40 ABY)
> 
> 'Across the stars' wil have more chapters because it became too large to be a one-shot, oops....
> 
> Thank you for reading!
> 
> Love, Enya.


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